A Big Upgrade for Synovus Financial

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After spending more than a year stuck at a two-star rank, enough top-performing CAPS members have turned bullish on Synovus Financial (NYSE: SNV  ) recently to upgrade it to a more formidable three stars. A total of 305 members have given their opinion on Synovus Financial, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

Similar to other banks, like BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) , SunTrust (NYSE: STI  ) , and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF  ) , Synovus Financial has suffered its share of credit losses in the past year and its shares have suffered greatly as a result. But despite the challenges, some investors are beginning to believe its potential outweighs the downside risk.

The company raised $600 million in a secondary offering in September and has been aggressively managing its credit, leading it to recently affirm its financial position. Synovus has exceeded recent government stress tests and said that at the end of the third quarter its Tier 1 capital ratio was at 10.48%, right around the ballpark of larger banks such as JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) .    

Synovus also sees opportunity to return to profitability in 2010 and says it's not under any regulatory requirements to raise additional capital. And while Citigroup and Wells Fargo made a fast dash to pay back TARP following Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC  ) move to repay, some investors don't see smaller banks like Synovus being under the same pressure. Some CAPS members believe that if the bank continues its strategy it will be well-positioned for growth.                     

Do you think Synovus Financial deserves its raised status? Add your thoughts in the comments box below on this page, or head over to CAPS to rate the company and check out all the information and opinions the community offers, absolutely free.